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4.23.2009

springtime.


today i have been thinking. my mind has been wandering around, through, and over the notion of springtime. i suppose this is because it IS springtime and also because i have found my own life's season taking on the characteristics of spring. you know the new-ness. the re-birth. the new growth. the spring cleaning. the longer warmer days. it feels just wonderful. splendid really. i like this season.

i found myself all sorts of nourished, well rested, and ready to get out in the sun-shine after a long winter in hibernation so to speak. now hibernation is not just sleeping. it still takes work to, you know, say alive. the big scary berrs do it. and dem trees. it is no easy gig to make it through the winter. and so, like them, we too have winters in our lives. as i wrote here nearly seven months ago, i needed to go into port and get refueled and rejuvenated. to rest and simply be. this winter season was hard cold and difficult. i felt stagnant and frozen, brittle and lifeless. but it was necessary. and now, all of that hard work, those winter months in hibernation have done me well. i am now seeing the growth and fruits that come only because of the rest and pause of the winter. how cool is that? have y'all ever noticed how metaphors in nature can help you get your mind around an idea? or notion? i love it. us rhetors call this topoi. we go here to be inspired and to be instructed.

spring is fun. yup. i did some serious spring-cleaning and am seeing some fruit from the work during the winter months in the sierras. i got me a new website. a new and improved blog. new facebook & blog friends. a new pair of jeans. i got my herr did. i have new sb friends. and i am a happy-jeff and am full of life. i like the sun-shine.

and i am feeling incredibly blessed and loved. my friend david jay featured my new site in his newsletter and my other friend jasmine star gave me some serious love on her blog. i was blown away. first by the gesture and then by the response. for two of my favorite photographers and entrepreneurs to recognize me in that way was a huge, huge deal for me. i was speechless and simply giddy when my friend emily texted me and told me what jasmine did. and when dj asked if he could feature my site. i was like small child at christmas time, all sorts of wiggly and giddy. both of them have been a huge source of encouragement, inspiration, support and love in my life, and i am incredibly honored and blessed to call them friends. thanks you two!



2 comments:

Emily S Crawford said...

...these images could stare at me all day long and I'd be fine with it. :)

Stunning work, Mr. Shipley.

Kim Kalyn said...

Hey new friend :) I LOVED your metaphor about your "life's season taking on the characteristics of spring." I thought that was a beautiful way of putting it. Second thing I love in this post - your polaroid templates - they are seriously snazzy. Lastly, if I had got love from J* and David Jay like that I would have peed in my pants, so I can only imagine how you felt ;) Keep the "magic" coming!